Election: Fairport Harbor asking voters to OK 10.3-mill levy on May 7

Editor's note: This story was revised at 5:45 p.m. April 18 to clarify the impact that passage of the levy would have on village home owners.

Fairport Harbor Village will ask voters to approve a 10.3-mill levy in the May 7 election to prevent major cuts in services, such as police, administration, fire and maintenance.

The village faces a $400,000 hole in its general fund next year because of numerous reasons, including reduction in state funding, the elimination of the estate tax, and the loss of a major employer, Mayor Timothy Manross said.

"We have to go to the voters now," he said.

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The proposed 10.3-mill, five-year levy would raise $517,384 annually and fill half of the village's general budget that pays for police, fire and other services, if voters approve it on the May 7 ballot.

Fairport Harbor's current 3.9-mill levy raises $177,874 per year, according to the county Auditor's Office.

The proposed 10.3-mill levy is a single issue consisting of a 3.9-mill replacement levy and 6.4 additional mills.

The 10.3-mill levy would cost homeowners $315.44 for every $100,000 in property valuation, according to the Lake County Auditor's Office. The current 3.9-mill issue costs $110.34 per $100,000 in property valuation.

Fairport Harbor Fiscal Officer Billie Geyer said the May 7 levy would increase village home owners' property tax bills by 7 percent.

"The average homeowner here owns $76,920 in home value," Manross said.

The village's budget gap will widen to more than $500,000 if voters reject the levy, he said.

"It will cripple our ability to provide service," Manross said.

About two dozen people have worked for the village part-time and full-time and since 2008. He said the village has frozen full-time positions that have gone vacant or filled them with part-time workers.

Manross said those cuts already have burdened police investigations and he expects more cuts to have major consequences to city services.

"There's no meat to cut," Manross said. "We are at the bone now."

Ohio's cuts to its Local Government Fund has been the biggest contributor to Fairport Harbor's budget problems, Manross said.

Fairport Harbor received about $374,000 in state funding every year between 2005 and 2008, he said. Last year, the village received $229,211, and Manross said he projects only $169,635 will come from the state for 2013.

Manross and the village have hosted three town-hall-style meetings to educate residents about why a new and higher levy is needed and how it will be spent. He said he opens each meeting with a presentation and then takes questions from the audience. Each meeting drawn 50 or 60 attendees, Manross said.

Two more meetings are planned before the May 7 special election. The first begins at 5 p.m. Saturday at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church on Plum Street. The second begins at 6:30 p.m. May 1 at the Fairport Senior Center on 1380 East St.

"We really encourage the villagers to come out and talk and make an informed decisions," Manross said.

Fairport Harbor has 2,118 registered voters eligible to decide the levy, according to the latest figures from the Lake County Elections Board.